It’s become a phenomenon– an anonymous person giving away cash by the handful and leaving clues on twitter.
Alexandra Etherton was across the street when she saw a tweet from an account called “Hidden Cash” and recognized the 9th circuit courthouse.
She ran to find an envelope.
“There was $60 in 20’s and then about four just two dollar bills,” says Etherton.
She’s part of a growing club of people who’ve found cash in envelopes by following clues.
“We got the tweet saying go to the caterpillar by the water. My first thought was caterpillar construction equipment.”
A friend knew about a bulldozer beached along the great highway.
So did somebody else Matthew had to race him.
“He went up the front side of the caterpillar, I went up the back side, and it just happened to be on the back side,” says Matthew.
This whole thing leaves people asking why.
“I think he’s just trying to have fun giving away money,” says Matthew.
Setting aside the purpose for a second, the “result” of these hidden cash hunts is just as int. running after money could easily inspire greed, but this seems to have inspired generosity.
Within five minutes, one couple gave all the money away to families on the beach.
“Do you want 60 dollars?”
Burkert says he, too, wanted to pay it forward.
“Giving it out to people on the street, I don’t know but definitely not gonna use it for myself,” says Matthew.
And in an anonymous phone interview, the man behind hidden cash says that’s the point.
“I’m in that 1% that some people loathe. But rather than hating people who are successful, my point would be to encourage people who have been successful to give back a little bit more,” says the donor.
